Deal to save Columbus Crew may harm Detroit's chances at an MLS expansion team

Unclear if new Austin team takes up 1 of final 2 expansion markets Detroit seeks

Rossetti

A move to convert Ford Field for soccer use is said to have caused Major League Soccer to sour on Detroit's bid.

Detroit's chance at landing a Major League Soccer expansion team may have dwindled by half.

The league on Friday made the surprise announcement that the owners of the NFL's Cleveland Browns have stepped in with a bid to buy MLS' Columbus Crew, whose current owner was deep into plans to move the club to Austin.

MLS, which has two remaining expansion markets left in its four-city expansion strategy announced in 2015, indicated in a statement that Austin will get a team if the Crew remain in Columbus. That would leave a single expansion market available for Detroit and the other cities seeking a team.

"MLS also remains very committed to (Crew owner Anthony Precourt's) plan to launch an MLS club in Austin and is excited for Austin to become a great addition to MLS. We will continue to work with (Precourt) and the City of Austin on the timing around the launch of Austin FC," the league said in a statement.

Messages have been left with MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche to get clarification on the expansion process in light of the Crew situation. Messages also were left with the Kevin Grigg, the spokesman for Detroit's bid, and others.

Detroit had been a front-runner to land an MLS team under a effort led by billionaire businessmen and sports team owners Dan Gilbert (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Tom Gores (Detroit Pistons). However, their surprise decision to abandon a $1 billion soccer-specific stadium and mixed-used development at the unfinished downtown county jail site, and instead use a modified Ford Field as a home soccer pitch, soured the MLS on Detroit.

Nashville and Cincinnati were granted teams, leaving Detroit and Sacramento as the remaining finalist cities for the final two expansion markets. However, MLS said the eight cities that formally submitted expansion bids in January 2017 would also be again considered for the final two markets.

Austin appears to have the inside track on one of those two final expansion slots. However, MLS has in the past run single-city expansion efforts outside of broader efforts to add multiple markets. For example, Miami was granted an expansion team earlier this year after four years of negotiations.

Miami, Nashville, and Cincinnati bring the league to 26 clubs, and MLS' strategic business plan is to reach 28 clubs by 2022. If that remains the plan, Austin would be the 27th market.

The league sounds as if it has all but granted an expansion team to Precourt for the Austin market, where it would be called Austin FC. He runs his soccer business through his Precourt Sports Ventures (PSV).

"Major League Soccer is excited to move forward in Austin with Precourt Sports Ventures and their vision for Austin FC. Regardless of any scenario in Columbus, there is a clear path forward for PSV to operate Austin FC as a Major League Soccer club," the league said. "The strong support from Austin's corporate community, government officials and passionate soccer fans is impressive. Austin is a flourishing, dynamic city that presents a great opportunity for MLS, and we look forward to finalizing plans to become the first major league team in the capital of Texas. While timing for Austin FC is still to be finalized, we are confident that the team will begin play no later than 2021 at the new, privately financed stadium and soccer park at McKalla Place. We applaud the Austin community, city leaders and Precourt Sports Ventures for their commitment to making this happen."

Austin was not one of the 12 markets that submitted expansion bids in January 2017. Detroit was among the four finalist cities the league unveiled Nov. 29. The four cities formally pitched themselves to MLS at the league's New York headquarters in December, with Nashville quickly getting the nod.

The Lions became tied to bid as part of the November 2017 decision to forgo a 23,000-seat soccer-specific stadium first pitched in March 2016 and instead use 64,500-seat Ford Field (the Lions' home since it opened in 2002). Renderings created by Detroit-based architects Rossetti Inc. show the stadium reconfigured to block off the upper seating tiers with screens. The Detroit bid has said Ford Field's location amid the city's burgeoning downtown entertainment and business district makes it a better option than the originally proposed jail site — a location that Gilbert continues to develop as a mixed-use project.

Lions owner Martha Firestone Ford has an option to take an ownership stake in the MLS team if one is granted to Detroit. Short of that, an expansion club would lease the stadium from the Lions, who operate the publicly-owned building under a long-term deal with the local stadium authority.

Rossetti was also hired to study the feasibility of adding a retractable roof at Ford Field, and to see how the stadium's non-weatherized interior would be affected by exposing it to the elements. The study is believed to have been finished, but it's unclear if it has been submitted to MLS. The league and the Detroit bid principals have declined to discuss the study.

Ford Field would be the only enclosed NFL stadium among what will eventually be 28 MLS clubs. MLS has repeatedly expressed a strong preference for open-air soccer-specific stadiums, and the Ford Field switch hurt Detroit's chances — but not fatally, so far.

"It set them back," MLS Commission Don Garber has said. "But in many ways, they have come together to retrofit Ford Field, which could make it very MLS-ready and they can talk about what those ideas might be, but they were really front runners when they were looking at the jail site."

The eight cities that didn't make the finalist cut in November — Charlotte, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Raleigh/Durham, St. Louis, San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa/St. Petersburg — are automatic finalists for the final two expansion markets, MLS said. It's unclear if all of those cities will continue their bids.

A new bidin St. Louis led by the founders of car rental giant Enterprise emerged in September. The group is pitching a $250 million stadium with what it calls "minimal" taxpayer or public subsidies, unlike a failed effort that sought $60 million via a sales tax for a soccer-specific stadium.

Before adding Nashville, Miami, and Cincinnati, MLS had added five teams since 2015: Orlando City SC (2015), New York City FC (2015), Minnesota United FC (2017), Atlanta United FC (2017) and Los Angeles FC begins play this year.

MLS was formed in 1996 and yet to turn a profit. The owners of the Cincinnati and Nashville teams will pay a $150 million expansion fee to join the league. It's unclear what the final two expansion teams will pay.

The league is a single-entity business, meaning all teams are owned by the league as part of a strategy to reduce expenses. Team "owners" pay an investment fee to MLS for the right to operate a team in a geographic area. They become league shareholders rather than franchise owners. All players are MLS employees rather than employed by the clubs. MLS pays the players, but teams keep their own books and budgets.

It's unclear when the Columbus situation could be resolved.

Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, CEO of the Pilot Flying J truck stop chain, and wife, Dee, are in talks with Crew owner Anthony Precourt to buy the soccer club to keep it in Columbus. No price has been disclosed. Haslam paid $1 billion for the Browns in 2012. Precourt bought the Crew, who wear distinct yellow and black kits, for $68 million in 2013.

The average value of an MLS team is $223 million, according to estimates last year from Forbes. The financial site pegged the Crew at $130 million. The L.A. Galaxy topped the value estimates at $315 million.

Also part of the purchase talks as partners with the Haslams is Dr. Pete Edwards Jr., the Crew's longtime team doctor. The joint Haslam-Edwards bid is called Columbus Partnership.

"MLS, the Columbus Partnership and the investor group all agree that for the club to be successful in Columbus, it requires strong local partners, long-term corporate support, a strong season ticket base and long-term plans for a stadium, practice facilities and associated sites," the league said. ""MLS is committed to keeping Crew SC in Columbus should we continue to make progress on these critical components and agree to key terms with the investor group."

The league said it has worked for months to find a way to keep the Crew, one of MLS' founding franchises, in Columbus.

Precourt, managing partner of San Francisco-based private investment management firm Precourt Capital Management, announced in October 2017 that if a new stadium wasn't built he planned to move the Crew to a proposed $200 million stadium in Austin for the 2019 season. He cited a lack of attendance and corporate advertising support as the financial impetus for either a new stadium or relocation.

MLS backed his financial concerns about the team.

"As attendance league-wide continues to grow on a record-setting pace, and markets across the country seek to join MLS, Columbus' situation is particularly concerning," Garber was quoted as saying in Precourt's 2017 announcement. "Despite PSV's significant investments and improvements on and off the field, Columbus Crew SC is near the bottom of the league in all business metrics and the club's stadium is no longer competitive with other venues across MLS. The league is very reluctant to allow teams to relocate, but based on these factors, we support PSV's efforts to explore options outside of Columbus, including Austin, provided they find a suitable stadium location."

The Crew play in what's been known since 2015 as Mapfre Stadium, which opened in 1999 as Columbus Crew Stadium, the U.S.'s first soccer-specific stadium. Its $28.5 million construction cost was privately financed by original Crew owner Lamar Hunt, the Texas oil billionaire whose family helped found the old American Football League and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Hunt family sold the Crew to Precourt.

Columbus (13-9-10) is last among MLS' 23 teams this season with a 12,120 per-game attendance average. The league average is 24,127 and atop MLS is Atlanta United FC at 51,826 per game.

During their 2008 championship season, the Crew averaged 14,622 per match for its 15 home games, 10th among the league's then-14 teams. The team, which averaged 15,450 per game from 1996-2017, has never matched its inaugural 1996 season attendance average of 18,950 per match. They played their first three seasons at massive Ohio Stadium until Crew Stadium was built.